by Genalyn D. Kabiling
Malacañang has ordered a crackdown on chicken vendors that would unnecessarily raise prices of their products over the avian flu outbreak in Pampanga.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said there must be “no price increase in chicken meat” since the incident was isolated and has been contained.
“Concerned government agencies are now looking at businesses that might take advantage of the situation and are monitoring the price of raw and processed chicken meat in the markets,” Abella said.
Authorities earlier confirmed its first bird flu outbreak following the death of 37,000 fowls in six poultry farms in San Luis, Pampanga.
An estimated 200,000 fowls in the affected areas have been culled to prevent the spread of the illness while a state of calamity has already been declared in the province.
Meantime duck raisers and farmers here expressed concerns on their products now that a ban has been declared regarding the movement of live poultry, meat and eggs from Luzon that also included Candaba.
“Ano po ang gagawin namin sa aming mga itlog kung patuloy itong ban?’’ asked Bonifacio Gonzales, manager of Candaba Duckraisers Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative.
Candaba is considered as the egg basket of the Philippines, with its duck industry serving as the number one supplier of eggs in Pateros, home to the famous balut. (With a report from Franco G. Regala)
